director Photographer screenwriter
Taraporevala, who is of Parsi Zoroastrian descent, was born and brought up in Mumbai.
After living in 18 years in America, she returned to India in 1993. She is married to Dr. Firdaus Bativala, a dental surgeon and lives in Mumbai, along with their two children.
She did her schooling from Queen Mary School, Mumbai.
Sooni did her BA from Harvard University, in 1980. Here she took a filmmaking course under Alfred Guzzetti, and met Mira Nair as an undergraduate, leading to their longtime creative collaboration. Next she joined the Cinema Studies Department at New York University, and after receiving her MA in Film Theory and Criticism, in 1981, she returned to India to work as a freelance still photographer.
Photography
In 1982, when during a break from college, she met photographer Raghubir Singh, who after looking at her work, which included photographs of her extended Parsi family, suggested she work on a book on Parsi community. This in turn started her extensive work of photo documentation of the Parsi community.
In Fall 2004, Ms. Taraporevala released a coffee table photography book, a first-ever visual work on India's Parsi Zoroastrian community, entitled Parsis: ''the Zoroastrians of India - A Photographic Journey''. A 24-year labor of love, the book offers rare photos, as well as historical and personal essays on the Zoroastrian religion and Parsi social history.
Ms. Taraporevala wrote the screenplays for ''Salaam Bombay'' and ''Mississippi Masala'', both directed by Mira Nair. Interestingly, the final drafts of both these films were written in Brooklyn, NY. Other projects with Nair include the screenplay for ''My Own Country'', based on the book by Abraham Verghese as well as the cinematic adaptation of Pulitzer-prize winning writer Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel, ''The Namesake''. The film, ''The Namesake'', was released in 2007.
Her other produced credits include the film ''Such a Long Journey ''based on the novel ''Such a Long Journey'' by Rohinton Mistry and directed by Sturla Gunnarson. Finally, she wrote the screenplay for the film ''Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar'', directed by Dr. Jabbar Patel for the Government of India and the National Film Development Corporation of India.
In 1982 her photo documentation of the Parsi community has been exhibited in India, the United States, France and Britain, including London’s Tate Modern gallery.
Taraporevala had previously self-published the book in India in 2000, where it sold out in just a few months. The book received glowing advance praise from film director Mira Nair, Harvard literature professor and noted post-colonial theorist Homi K. Bhabha, acclaimed writers Rohinton Mistry and Bapsi Sidhwa and conductor Zubin Mehta.
Taraporevala had previously self-published the book in India in 2000, where it sold out in just a few months. The book received glowing advance praise from film director Mira Nair, Harvard literature professor and noted post-colonial theorist Homi K. Bhabha, acclaimed writers Rohinton Mistry and Bapsi Sidhwa and conductor Zubin Mehta.
She is best known as the screenwriter of ''Mississippi Masala'', ''The Namesake'' and Oscar-nominated ''Salaam Bombay'', all directed by Mira Nair.
Taraporevala, who is of Parsi Zoroastrian descent, was born and brought up in Mumbai.
